Harvard Gets VC Firm on Campus: The Experiment Fund | TechCrunch

This train just keeps on rolling! Yes, the campus is the frontier for high impact entrepreneurship! That is why there is now a venture capital fund on Harvard’s campus and it is in the engineering school! From Greg Kumparak at TechCrunch:

Dubbed The Experiment Fund, the firm describes itself as “a bridge between America’s oldest universities and storied venture capital firms.” Backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the firm is made up of Hugo Van Vurren, NEA co-head Patrick Chung, and NEA General Partner Harry Weller — all of whom have a degree of some form from the school.

When I say it’s “right on the Harvard campus”, I’m not kidding — it’s going to be based out of 33 Oxford Street, which is Harvard’s School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences. It’s a bit more than a stone’s throw from Harvard Yard. With that said, the fund operates with complete independence from the university.

And if you’re not a Harvard student? Don’t sweat it too much. The fund says they’re open to anyone, “regardless of university affilation, nationality, age, or prior experience.” Being a Harvard student — or at least a Cambridge local — probably wouldn’t hurt, though.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that there are many reasons that investors want to be on campus. The questions is, do they know what they are looking for? Do they have a framework for assessing student initiated ventures and campus infrastructure?